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Why Do We have Unexpected Expenses

On occasion I have to deal with unexpected expenses that throws off my budget. What can I say this is how life works and we either have to be ready or not to deal with the issues. How many times have you heard the phrase Murphy’s law, which references anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The emergencies or events almost always happen at inopportune times. Why do we have unexpected expenses? (No one knows but they sure stink)

Well this recently happened to me and it really makes it difficult to think optimistically. Challenging times are not easy but also completely help you realize a fire within you to push forward. The incident that made my heart skip a beat, was a major car accident. Another driver fell asleep and hit my parked car at 6 a.m. last Saturday morning.

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The Sad State of Retirement

I like to write posts based on my current experiences in life and this one happens to be a very unusual topic I rarely discuss here.(Haha) The topic today is retirement and we will dive in to share a bit about the sad state of retirement and what I mean by this.

The other day I had to take a half day off from work to go to a doctors appointment. I was done a bit early so I decided to go to the mall, primarily Marshall’s within the mall, to get a new pair of all-purpose athletic shorts for the summer. As I am walking through the hallway inside the local outlet mall, I see a row of chairs along the wall, each one filled with random people. Each and every person was just staring aimlessly at other people walking or either looking at a Cell Phone. The reason this struck me as being the sad state of retirement, almost 90% of the people looked depressed or just passing the time.

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The Personal Finance Ratios that Matter

Let’s just imagine you actually had the opportunity to run personal finance ratios for your situation. If you handled your personal life like a business I’m sure things will run smoothly and efficiently compared to how you handled your dollars beforehand. A budget is for the most part in disarray before running the household finances within the personal finance ratios that matter.

When I say within I mean keep things in a preferred range for each ratio. Now a days some people think that paying for vacations which equals 30% of the yearly income is financially smart. I will tell you this person is not being financially aware of the personal finance ratios that matter. Because if they did, the vacation ratio which falls under entertainment and or vacation category should only be 15% of the annual income.

For a simple example let’s assume this person makes $3,000 dollars a month, net pay or about 50K monthly off annual income. (About the national Average)

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What is Savings

If I said before I’ll say it again, savings is a means to an end. What end that will be is completely dependent on what you value for your money life. What is Savings? Something as simple as taking 3 years off to raise you’re kids, can be a savings goal. Another one can be saving for a business venture. We tend to over assume things will just work out, and we don’t prepare enough with finances. What is savings defined in my life, well you will soon read below.

When you have long term savings goals, life gets interesting because you’ll usually achieve them, but without a plan you will most likely just get by completing smaller savings goal. Lets rev up our internal engines or brain waves and save some cold hard cash.

No excuses here for this topic because having savings is and should be a priority even above paying Chase. Because Chase will never cover your monthly expenses if you lose a job. Find out below why you need savings today.

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The 3 Emergency Fund Accounts

Let’s jump right into this one and begin to discuss the purpose behind the 3 emergency fund accounts. An emergency can happen at any given moment, but will you be prepared to fight through the financial snow storm? In my situation I have about 3 accounts that I can tap if an emergency arises. It helps me sleep better at night because it’s a safety net waiting to catch me if I fall on hard times. Now what is considered hard times is up for debate, as some people feel a trip to the beach for a week is considered hard times.

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The Last Hundred Dollars

A new series is born today, with the premise that now I will let you in to see what things I spent my last hundred dollars on. Imagine if you had only a hundred dollars to your name, what would you spend it on?

Would you go to the Mall and splurge? Or Maybe you get happy saving some of it before its all gone?

The last hundred is a way to lighten up the financial blogosphere with something unique. Yeah I could give you a bunch of boring spreadsheets showing my monthly net worth, but that’s been done a thousand times over. As of right now I still don’t feel 100% showing you guys all my pennies and cents, but with these posts you get a sneak peak at some random expenses. See below for the fun.

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The Minimum Wage Debate

The minimum wage debate

Hey you do you think the minimum wage amount should be raised? If yes is your answer or no is your answer, let’s have the minimum wage debate today. The current minimum wage in my state is 8.25 cents an hour, or 330 dollars per week, or 1320 per month. This is the amount prior to taking out federal and state taxes. I don’t know about you but 330 dollars a week doesn’t go far to support anyone in 2015.

From my research the average rent in my area for a 1 bedroom apartment is 850 – 1200 dollars per month. Now can someone making 1320 per month successfully pay for shelter, including food, utilities, and transportation costs? Unfortunately it is impossible for many people who oppose raising the minimum wage to do a simple budget. Thanks to a coworker I got a flyer from the national low income housing coalition, and it states a housing wage should be 25.17 per hour as the minimum in order to afford a two bedroom fair market rent in NJ. I can add and subtract with ease, and if you take 25.17 -8.25 = 16.92. That is how much we are off per hour for someone making minimum wage to afford a two bedroom rent.

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Creative Ways to Save Dollars

Money is a difficult tool to understand or grasp the gist behind how to manage it. No literally people cannot find a way to keep it in their possession for long. This will not be my usual post and rather it will be inspiring and motivating write up for the readers who want more out of life. Do you want to be the same person you were 5 years ago, specifically in the same spot financially?

Well if you’re up to the challenge follow the creative ways to save dollars listed below. We all have goals and if you publicly admit you don’t have any, shame on you. Let’s get back on track with the positive thoughts we all prefer to read about.

Imagine 5 years in the future and you accumulated $20 grand because you followed the steps below. Wow what a fantastic “brand new” person will stare back at you in the mirror at the reflection of somebody financially relevant. Yes you were always important, but if you had $20 grand in your savings account that you never had before in your entire life, wouldn’t that make you feel more secure and proud to achieve a mega money goal. Now let’s get into the best creative ways we all can use to save some greenbacks.

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